Vic accused wanted witness killed: court

Lavery, 31, is standing trial for the March 2008 murder of James Russouw, who was found stabbed to death inside his torched Jeep beside a suburban sports oval.

The Supreme Court of Victoria on Thursday heard from Witness B, who cannot be named for legal reasons, about a conversation with Lavery during which the murder-accused admitted being responsible for the 24-year-old's death.

But Lavery's lawyer Scott Johns accused witness B of being a "grifter, a con artist" with a "silver tongue" who had fabricated the conversation.

Witness B is a "street-wise" person, a "smooth-talker" with a criminal history who had his "eye on an opportunity" to get a slice of a million dollar reward on offer for information leading to a conviction, Mr Johns said.

"I wanted to do the right thing," the witness said of his motivation to come forward.

The witness insisted the reward, advertised by Victoria Police in March 2016, played no part in the evidence.